Update on Syria revolution -The other side of the coin ignored by the main stream news

Combating terrorism in #Syria

The first war of President-Elect Donald Trump

Thursday Nov 17th 2016

Everyone is advising that we should calm down and wait to see what will President-Elect Donald Trump do, regarding the Syrian crisis. I agree with this advice, but we cannot afford to wait only, we have to put our utmost efforts, to influence his future Syria’s policies, while they are still at the development stage, this is due to the fact that all his comments about the Syrian crisis, were a cause of our concerns and worries, clearly he does not have all the facts, specifically that successful antiterrorism policies, cannot be developed without correct diagnosis, and deep analysis to identify the root causes of terrorism. Dealing with the symptoms only, may provide temporary relief, but would not be able to eradicate the main sources and root causes of the disease.

The current war on terrorism in Iraq and Syria, is a repeat of the Fifteen years’ war on al-Qaeda, which failed to eradicate it, and resulted in the birth of ISIS, the more extreme terrorist organization, due to ignoring the root causes of this Malignant disease, and limiting the treatment to the symptoms only. As Albert Einstein said “the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result”, by that measure, the strategy planners have lost their minds.

The facts are that Assad’s regime, have been, committing war crimes, and still is, including collective punishments, indiscriminate bombings, using internationally forbidden chemical weapons, torturing detainees to death, forced disappearances and sectarian cleansing, are all part of the major root causes of the Syrian people’s grievances, the other horrifying cause is that all of these war crimes and the sufferings subjected upon the people, are continuing daily, without any proper and serious action by the international community, to put an end to the greatest humanitarian crisis of this century and continued Syrian people’s tragedy, These grievances and lack of justice, have been utilized by terrorist’s organizations as recruitment’s vehicle, and main excuse, that they use to verify their presence and move into Syria.
Accordingly, any forced military solution by the regime and its backers, or any political solution imposed by Russia and/or the United States, that does not address, and properly resolve these grievances, will inflame more the already disastrous situation, and cause the resurgence of extremism and terrorists organizations in Syria and Europe.

Reaching a just and meaningful political settlement in Syria, that provides a resolution to the Syrian people’s grievances, is the only guarantee of a complete victory against terrorism in Syria and Europe. Therefore, Assad is responsible for these war crimes, he created the fertile soil for terrorism growth in Syria and worldwide, and caused the death of hundreds of thousands of Syrian civilians, must step down, he must be held accountable, and surly cannot be part of the transitional period or the future of Syria.

By Hadi al-Bahra
The former President of the Syrian National Coalition